The University of Western Australia launches major brand refresh via The Brand Agency
The University of Western Australia (UWA), part of Australia’s elite group of 8 universities, has announced a major brand refresh via The Brand Agency. A new brand identity and positioning will launch with an integrated marketing 
communications push starting on May 10.
The initiative includes an updated version of the UWA logo as well as a completely new brand positioning campaign based on UWA’s century-old mission to drive progress. The campaign will reveal a new brand proposition for UWA – “Pursue Impossible”.
Craig Buchanan, creative director at The Brand Agency said: “The key driver for our creative idea was the insight that it’s those people who strive to achieve the seemingly impossible who keep the world turning. From the start, we wanted to portray a globally connected university with strong Perth roots. We’re really proud of the fact that it is almost exclusively a WA production, with significant input from talent at UWA itself.
“We realised that rising to these challenges is a journey, so we wanted to tell a story of one person’s quest using the metaphor of a global journey battling the challenges of climate, stamina and environment. All that remained was to bring to life the idea of keeping the world turning, so we showed that when our hero female runner stops pursuing her dreams, the world stops with her.”
Perth production company The Penguin Empire and director Grant Sputore produced 60-second, 30-second and 15-second TV formats as well as a 75-second extended cut for web use, with special effects by Last Pixel. Another key component of the film is the use of powerful percussion music using a custom score preformed by UWA School of Music students and directed by Soundbyte.
Karen Carriero, Chief Marketing Officer at UWA, said the initiative was a huge collaborative effort. “Our Marketing and Communications team, our web office and design team at UniPrint all worked really closely with our agency partners at Brand, Rubis and OMD to create the University’s first major, integrated brand refresh in over 40 years. We wanted the brand proposition to be more student centric and I think we’ve achieved that.”
The campaign will launch initially to the local WA market within main media, and reach global audiences online. It includes television, press, out of home, online advertising and a new campaign landing page, www.pursueimpossible.com.au.
The media activity is supported by a completely refreshed logo and identity.
Dan Agostino, The Brand Agency’s Head of Design, said: “It’s about evolving the core elements of the existing logo to be more relevant to today’s digital environment while retaining UWA’s history. We’ve looked at the structure of the entire brand, including a full redesign of their extensive suite of corporate collateral, building a unique custom typeface and a fully responsive microsite for the launch.”
The formal Coat of Arms that appears on degree certificates has not been changed.
Credits:
Creative Director: Craig Buchanan
Copywriter: Murray Laird
Art Directors: Steve Lorimer, Craig Buchanan
Agency Producer: Gemma Kay
Account Director: Michelle Lague
Business Director: Paul Yole
Strategist: Paul Yole
Production Company: The Penguin Empire
Director: Grant Sputore
DoP: Patrick O’Sullivan
Editor: Grant Sputore
Producer: Kelvin Munro
Composer: Andrew Wright
Sound Design: Brad Habib
Visual Effects: Last Pixel
21 Comments
Not sure about the use of mixed opacity in “impossible”. Other than that, I like.
you people set the bar
wow!!!!
It’s refreshing that this is an international quality spot using entirely local production. Nice job team Perth!
Nice work Brand
Lovely production values guys.
I think the real winner here is the Perth production industry and Grant in particular. It shows what can happen when an agency trusts one of our directors.
This has better production values than any commercial produced by Perth’s other top agencies that continually grab an eastern states director whenever they have a budget. It’s telling that Brand’s work has improved since they’ve kept it local and the others haven’t done a commercial of any note for years.
Bravo Grant, Last Pixel and Soundbyte.
Makes me want to go back to uni and make something of my life. But instead, I’m sitting here posting comments on CB about how damn good this ad is. Well done!
Beautiful work. And it’s better on the second viewing.
Fuck me that is good.
Boy, ECU and Curtin will really need to pull up their advertising socks. This is great stuff and sets the bar very high indeed!
Excellent work to all.
Nice work Murray Laird.
Clearly, opacity makes the impossible, possible.
Pun intended ; )
The Brand seems to be the only agency doing anything of note. Good work Craig and team.
What happened to Richard’s rant?
Well done Brand
Well done Murray, Steve, Craig
Well done Grant
Well done Soundbyte and UWA School of Music
And, well done client
Beautifully shot, and the sound track is fantastic. What great idea to get the students involved, and congrats to the Brand for keeping the production here. It just goes to show what local talent can do given the opportunity. But I have to question the originality of the strategy and insight. The chase your dreams and make the impossible possible is very well trodden territory, particularly in a pair of Adidas trainers…
Where? said:
What happened to Richard’s rant?
It was embarrassing. Good move getting rid of it.
^ what ‘Nice Job’ said.
Huh.
My initial view (I’d only seen the full-page press advertisement and a cloud-shaped balloon at the UWA campus) related to the new positioning line (Pursue (im)possible) which, sits beside the University’s other, very different corporate instruction, Seek Wisdom.
Although you disagreed to the point of embarrassment (what a delicate soul you are) there are those who understood my argument and agreed with it.
I’m not surprised that you think it’s a “good move getting rid of it” (my Letter to the Editor); my experience has been that those keen on censorship and the curbing of freedom of expression are typically also the spineless spectators whose heckling emanates from the grimy blackness of anonymity.
Let us know who you are so we can find out more about your keenness to rid Campaign Brief ( and possibly all media) of opinions which don’t accord with your own and/or upset your emotional balance.
You may be comfortable with your current nom de plume but Gutless or Fascist or Dopey (or perhaps a combination of all three) would position you more accurately.
For the record, neither Campaign Brief nor I initiated my letter’s removal.
Richard
Oh Richard, welcome back. How we have missed you! PS I agree with Nice Job, production values are lovely, it looks remarkably high end but the strategy leaves a lot to be desired. Shame.